A couple on 'Millionaire's Row' has been slammed by a judge and told to pay £50,000 for taking their neighbours to court.
It's part of a six year row regarding access to an orchard.
According to the court, Guy Ker and his partner Rue Swabley were "blinkered, obsessive, and unreasonable" in pursuing the row since 2016.
The argument began when the couple said their neighbour Cartin Weston had "persistently" blocked the track, leading to their orchard on Pound Hill, Oxfordshire.
They alleged that Ms Weston had "placed bins", parked vehicles and "authorised contractors" to park skips, vans and cement mixer over the track on the road, where this year house prices averaged £1.1million.
But after two days of evidence and legal submissions at Oxford County Court, Judge Melissa Clarke threw away all but one of the more than 60 allegations of "substantial interference" with the couples' right of way on the track yesterday.
She also did not make an injunction in favour of the couple, stopping Ms Weston from "interfering" with right of way, for fear it could be used "as a weapon".
Judge Clarke accused Mr Ker, who had been caught on camera throwing' his neighbour's bins into a hedge, of "speechifying" in his evidence during the trial.
Some of his evidence, including his claim that his neighbour had orchestrated a "relentless campaign" to block their access to the orchard, was dismissed by the judge as bearing "no relation to reality".
She said if there was a relentless campaign, it was by Mr Ker and Ms Swabey's "controlling of the track in an attempt to entirely control Ms Weston's use of it."
Despite not owning the track to their orchard, they had placed a gate across it.
"Of course, it is not their track to control," the judge added.
She also accused the claimants of taking a "blinkered, obsessive and unreasonable" approach.
And noting that Mr Ker had continued to report the alleged 'obstructions' to police as a way of 'logging' them - even after being told by police it was a civil matter - Judge Clarke said the man "did not seem to see any issues with wasting police resources".
The couple were even caught out "manufacturing" evidence of the matter.
One example being a photo showing Ms Weston's car being parked across the track, with Mr Ker's orange vehicle trying to gain access to the orchard.
However, CCTV footage from Ms Weston's property showed a "different reality", the judge said.
In it, she was seen unloading her shopping. Ms Swabey was said to have run to the house she shared with Mr Ker before, a few minutes later, the "orange car" appeared.
In papers filed with the court, lawyers for the defendant accused Mr Ker and Ms Swabey of a "campaign of harassment."
Judge Clarke noted she had seen videos of Mr Ker pushing Ms Weston's bins into a neighbouring layby and hedge.
Cross-examined earlier this week, he denied the behaviour until the videos were shown to him.
She ordered the claimants pay £50,000 towards Ms Weston's legal fees, plus interest. They have 21 days to pay.
